Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!claris!jazzman
From: jazzman@claris.com (Sydney R. Polk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: The results of our cash cow
Message-ID: <10704@claris.com>
Date: 29 Nov 89 19:18:57 GMT
References: <113300187@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Claris Corporation, Santa Clara CA
Lines: 41

From article <113300187@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>, by saa33413@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:
> 
> Indeed, Apple is rolling in the dough.  Here at the U of I, everything is (ugh)
> Macintosh.  In MacWorld (I think it was MacWorld), they did a price analysis
> called, "Where Does Your Money Go?" (or something like that).  They looked at
> what they figured it costs Apple to build a Mac SE with 1 MB RAM and a 20 MB
> hard disk.  Such a machine (which is what I'm typing this on) lists for $3500,
> excluding the keyboard ($120 or $175, depending on the model you choose).  
> 
> MacWorld broke the machine into about eight components to get the materials
> cost.  The hard disk, at $250, was the most expensive component.  All the parts
> of the Mac SE (including keyboard) cost Apple only about $600!  Simple 
> arithmetic indicates that Apple is making an over 500% profit on the Mac SE!
> (Put that way, it's no wonder Apple Marketing loves the Mac and would like to
> dump the II--more profit! :-) ).
I think that this is a slight oversimplification.  Apple still has to pay
someone to make the damn thing, someone to sell them, and someone to write
all of that neat nifty toolbox stuff.  They also have to pay some liscencing
on stuff they don't own (like the toolbox).  On top of this, if they didn't
make a profit, they could not do R&D.  (And if you don't think that R&D
is important, I suggest you look at System 5 on the GS.  This took a HELL
of a lot of work).

By the way, just in case you get the wrong idea, I have nothing to do with
Apple proper.  They make hardware, I write software.  We make our own
decisions.  This is just another one of those "Gee, look, someone's making
money, and I am not." type of letters.  These are very annoying.  Let's
face it, we are past the days where two guys in an apartment or dorm roon
can do anything significant in the computer industry.  It takes an AWFUL
LOT of work to get anything done in this industry now, and there is a lot
of labor-intensive overhead.  Once you take that into account, a couple of
thousand for a computer is about right.

Jeez.  You'd think people wanted computers for free or something.


-- 
Syd Polk           | Wherever you go, there you are.
jazzman@claris.com | Let the music be your light.
GO 'STROS!         | These opinions are mine.  Any resemblence to other
GO RICE!           |  opinions, real or fictitious, is purely coincidence.